Good Start

It’s been a goodish start to the year. I can’t remember a January when I still felt positive this long after January 1^st. Even Blue Monday, the 18^th January, didn’t dampen my spirits. I’m writing dates in my Filofax- I’m sure you do that all the time, but up until now I kept forgetting- and as a result, I’m remembering birthdays, anniversaries, doctors’ appointments, etc. I’ve been getting into work on time. Not every day, but I’m better than I was.

Actually, my improved punctuality has come about because, for Christmas, my wife bought me a Kindle Fire 7”, and I’ve been trying to download all the books I had on my original Kindle. For this, you need wifi, and since I don’t have that at home it means I have to use cafes and pubs. So I’ve been leaving the house as soon as I’ve washed and dressed, and trying a different café every morning, trying to connect with Amazon. The wifi on London Underground is no good for this, nor is Starbucks, nor any place whose server is The Cloud. Public libraries are hopeless. The only places whose wifi has helped me have been independent cafes and pubs, the wifi which asks you for a password.

Now that I’ve learnt a bit more about the Kindle Fire, it seems very exciting. Not only can I read e-books on it, I can download talking books, music and films as well. I can send and receive emails, and connect to the internet. I don’t play computer games, but apparently it’s good for that too. When we move, which will probably be out of London, which in turns means I will be virtually living in train compartments, I will have a few options to keep myself sane.

My writers’ group has started up again, and I’m beginning to get murmurings of story ideas. I was like this when I was at school- all through the holidays, when I had loads of time for writing, I dried up. As soon as the new term started, the juices started flowing again. I’ve started cutting stories out of newspapers (cutting, pasting and printing out stories from online newspapers isn’t quite so inspirational), and I’m managing to get out and walk around the block in my lunch hours, as recommended by Julia Cameron in her brilliant The Artist’s Way.

I’m writing regularly in my Writing Practice notebook. At the moment, I’m describing last night’s dreams, when I can remember them, something I’ve been doing since I bought Jenny Alexander’s Writing In The House OfDreams. Perhaps it’s only a coincidence (Jenny Alexander might call it synchronicity), but since I’ve been doing this, I’ve felt a lot more positive, and I’ve been getting story ideas, too.

Finally, to crown it all, I’ve written the first draft of a short story. Only about 1,000 words. Horror again- I would have sent it to Microhorror when that was still running. Now I might send it to Burialday.